a. Field
The instant disclosure relates to a deflectable catheter shaft section and related components.
b. Background Art
Medical devices, catheters, and/or cardiovascular catheters, such as electrophysiology catheters can be used in a variety of diagnostic, therapeutic, and/or mapping and ablative procedures to diagnose and/or correct conditions such as atrial arrhythmias, including for example, ectopic atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and atrial flutter. Arrhythmias can create a variety of conditions including irregular heart rates, loss of synchronous atrioventricular contractions and stasis of blood flow in a chamber of a heart, which can lead to a variety of symptomatic and asymptomatic ailments and even death.
Typically, a catheter can be deployed and manipulated through a patient's vasculature to the intended site, for example, a site within a patient's heart or a chamber or vein thereof. To position a catheter within the body at a desired site, some type of navigation may be used, such as mechanical steering features incorporated into the catheter (or an introducer sheath). In some examples, medical personnel can manually manipulate and/or operate the catheter using the mechanical steering features.
In order to facilitate the advancement of catheters through a patient's vasculature, the simultaneous application of torque at the proximal end of the catheter and the ability to selectively deflect the distal tip of the catheter in a desired direction can permit medical personnel to adjust the direction of advancement of the distal end of the catheter and to position the distal portion of the catheter during an electrophysiological procedure. The proximal end of the catheter can be manipulated to guide the catheter through a patient's vasculature. The distal tip can be deflected by a pull wire attached at the distal end of the catheter that extends to a control handle that controls the application of tension on the pull wire.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.